scala

See also: Appendix:Variations of "scala"

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scāla (“ladder”). Doublet of scale.

Noun

scala (plural scalas or scalae)

1. Ladder; sequence.
2. (anatomy) Ladder-like structure in the cochlea of a mammal's ear.
3. A machine formerly used for reducing dislocations of the humerus.

Related terms

• scala naturae
• scala tympani
• scala vestibuli

Anagrams

• AACSL, Calas, Casal, calas, casal

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian scala, from Latin scāla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskaː.laː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sca‧la
• Rhymes: -aːlaː

Noun

scala n (plural scala's, no diminutive)

1. assortment, range

   Synonyms: gamma, assortiment, selectie

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈska.la/

Noun

scala (plural scalas)

1. staircase

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈska.la/
• Rhymes: -ala
• Hyphenation: scà‧la

Etymology 1

From Latin scāla (“stair, staircase, ladder”).

Noun

scala f (plural scale)

1. ladder
2. stair
3. scale

Derived terms

• scala mobile (“escalator”)
• scalo

Descendants

• → Catalan: escala
• → Danish: skala
• → Dutch: scala
• → German: Skala
  • → Belarusian: шкала́ (škalá)
  • → Czech: škála
  • → Dutch: schaal
  • → Polish: skala
  • → Russian: шкала́ (škalá)
    • → Kazakh: шкала (şkala)
  • → Slovak: škála
  • → Ukrainian: шкала́ (škalá)
• → Finnish: skaala
• → French: escale
  • → Romanian: escală
• → Interlingua: scala
• → Icelandic: skali
• → Norwegian Bokmål: skala
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: skala
• → Ottoman Turkish: اسكله (iskele), ایسكله (iskele)
  • Turkish: iskele
  • → Abkhaz: а-сқьал (a-skʲal), а-сқьала (a-skʲala)
  • → Albanian: skelë
  • → Armenian: իսկէլէ (iskēlē), իսք^յա̈լա̈ (iskʻ^yälä), ա̈սկ^յա̈լա̈ (äsk^yälä)
  • → Bulgarian: скеля (skelja)
  • → Georgian: ისკელე (isḳele) — Chveneburi
  • → Persian: اسکله (iskala)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ске̏ла

    Latin script: skȅla

    • → Romanian: schelă
  • → Ubykh: исқеле (iskele)
• → Portuguese: escala
• → Romanian: scală
• → Slovene: skala
• → Spanish: escala
• → Swedish: skala
• → Ukrainian: ска́ла (skála)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

scala

1. inflection of scalare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

Noun

scala f (plural scale)

1. (card games, poker) straight

Further reading

• scala in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• lasca

Latin

Etymology

From *skand-slā, from Proto-Indo-European *skend-. The linguist Hrach Martirosyan connects the term with Old Armenian սանդուղք (sandułkʻ), for which he posits an Armeno-Italic isogloss *(s)kn̥d-sleh₂.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈskaː.ɫa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈskaː.la]

Noun

scāla f (genitive scālae); first declension

1. ladder
2. (plural only) stairs (flight of steps)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	scāla	scālae
genitive	scālae	scālārum
dative	scālae	scālīs
accusative	scālam	scālās
ablative	scālā	scālīs
vocative	scāla	scālae

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: iscala, issala, scaba
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: scarã
  • Romanian: scară
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: scala (see there for further descendants)
  • Sicilian: scala
  • Venetan: scała
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: scjale, sčhale
  • Romansch: stgala, scala, stgeala
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: scala
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Northern:
    • Franco-Provençal: èchiéla
    • Old French: eschele, eschale, eskele (see there for further descendants)
  • Southern:
    • Catalan: escala
    • Occitan: escala
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Spanish: escala
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *scālata
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: escaada
    • Galician: escada
    • Portuguese: escada

Borrowings:

• → Albanian: shkallë
• → Ancient Greek: σκάλα (skála)
  • Greek: σκάλα (skála)
  • Pontic Greek: σκάλα (skála)
  • → Bulgarian: скала́ (skalá)
  • → Classical Syriac: ܣܩܠܐ (sqālā)
  • → Coptic: ⲥⲕⲁⲗⲁ (skala)
  • → Georgian: პწკალა (ṗc̣ḳala) — Guria
  • → Laz: მსქალა (mskala), მსკალა (msǩala) — Atina, Vizha, Artasheni, ფსკალა (psǩala), მწკალა (mǯǩala) — Vitse–Arkabi
  • → Macedonian: скала (skala)
  • → Mingrelian: სკალა (sḳala), სკაჲა (sḳaya)
• → English: scala
• → Galician: escala
• → Georgian: სკალა (sḳala)
• → Lithuanian: skalė
• → Middle English: scale, skale, schale
  • English: scale
    • → Japanese: スケール (sukēru)
  • → Irish: scála
• → Portuguese: escala
• → Proto-Brythonic: *ɨskọl
  • Middle Welsh: yscawl
    • Welsh: ysgol
• → Scottish Gaelic: sgèile
• → Tashelhit: taskala

Further reading

• “scala”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "scala", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “scala”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to apply scaling-ladders: scalas admovere (B. C. 3. 63)
    
  • to scale the walls by means of ladders: positis scalis muros ascendere
    
• scala in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “scala”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 543
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010), Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 567

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *skalō (“shell”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, part, divide”).

Noun

scala f

1. shell
2. scale (dish of balance)
3. bowl

Descendants

• Middle High German: schāle
  • Bavarian: Schoin
  • German: Schale
    • → Serbo-Croatian: šolja
  • Yiddish: שאָל (shol)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈst͡sa.la/
• Rhymes: -ala
• Syllabification: sca‧la

Verb

scala

1. third-person singular present of scalać